Russia's higher education system expanded rapidly in the past 15 years and now enrolls a high percentage of Russian youth. But the quality of the system is questionable, and although decentralization served to promote expansion, the Russian State is now seeking to regain control ostensibly to rationalize financing and improve quality. This paper uses Poulantzas' theory of the State and Offe's State legitimation theory to analyze this process of recentralization, financial rationalization and control. The data for the study come from extensive interviews in Russian universities and data from the BRIC questionnaires applied to students and university administrators in 30 Russian institutions. Preliminary analysis suggests that the Russian State is pursuing two different policies, one aimed at reduced financial commitment to "mass" universities and increased financial commitment to select universities aimed at increasing their quality and improving Russia's competitive position in the world economy.

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Kuhns, K. "Decentralization and recentralization in Russian higher education: Implications for quality and control" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 55th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society, Fairmont Le Reine Elizabeth, Montreal, Quebec, Canada<Not Available>. 2014-11-26 from http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p486484_index.html

Publication Type: Panel PaperAbstract: Russia's higher education system expanded rapidly in the past 15 years and now enrolls a high percentage of Russian youth. But the quality of the system is questionable, and although decentralization served to promote expansion, the Russian State is now seeking to regain control ostensibly to rationalize financing and improve quality. This paper uses Poulantzas' theory of the State and Offe's State legitimation theory to analyze this process of recentralization, financial rationalization and control. The data for the study come from extensive interviews in Russian universities and data from the BRIC questionnaires applied to students and university administrators in 30 Russian institutions. Preliminary analysis suggests that the Russian State is pursuing two different policies, one aimed at reduced financial commitment to "mass" universities and increased financial commitment to select universities aimed at increasing their quality and improving Russia's competitive position in the world economy.